Product Details

• Actors: Rebecca De Mornay, Garret Dillahunt, Greyson Fletcher, Willie Garson, Bruce Greenwood
• Directors: Adam Davidson, Daniel Minahan, Ed Bianchi, Gregg Fienberg, Jeremy Podeswa
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• DVD Release Date: April 1, 2008
• Run Time: 600 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0010XB1WM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,489 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Television > HBO > John from Cincinnati

• For more information about "John from Cincinnati - The Complete First Season" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A 2007 HBO television series created by Deadwood's David Milch, John from Cincinnati details a week in the dysfunctional Yost family--a family comprised of three generations of men obsessed with surfing who experience firsthand the perils of fame, paranormal events, and an inexplicable realization of the interconnectedness of man. Past surfing great Mitch Yost (Bruce Greenwood) had his career halted by a knee injury, but passed his love of surfing onto his son Butchie (Brian Van Holt) only to have fame drive his son to a heavy drug use that's destroying his life. Butchie's son Shaun (Greyson Fletcher) is being raised by Mitch and his wife Cissy (Rebecca De Mornay) and also possesses a deep love surfing and a talent that promises him a great future, if he can only get his grandfather to allow him to compete. The family's circle of friends and acquaintances seem mostly to argue, swear, and generally tear each other down and include retired and mentally unstable police officer Bill (Ed O'Neill), surfer girl Kai (Keala Kennelly) who works at the Yost's surf shop and watches out for Shaun, motel manager Ramon (Luiz Gứzman), Butchie's settlement lawyer Palaka (Paul Ben-Victor), and a few other seemingly unrelated townspeople. The mysterious arrival of John, who insists on seeing Butchie, sparks the beginning of one strangely paranormal experience after another for the family and community including unexplained levitations and visions, a haunted hotel room, and two resurrections from death. Somehow, John emphasizes the connectedness of both family members and townspeople and, while John himself comes across as significantly dim, he has a knack for saying the profound without understanding a word of what he speaks. As the days go by, it becomes apparent that John gives voice to the words of his father or The Father. This eight-episode series is an exploration of self-centeredness, fear, and faith and John's role as savior, doomsayer, unwitting pawn, or simpleton is never clear--the end of the season at day seven brings no real resolution or sense of whether the Yost family is better off or worse than they were before John appeared. A truly bizarre show full of unanswered questions and crude language and subject matter, it is somehow intriguing even as it is repulsive and unsatisfying. --Tami Horiuchi

Product Description

Just north of the border, in the tired coastal town of Imperial Beach, CA, live three generations of Yosts: surfing royalty turned society misfits. The Yost's reign and reputation, once defined in the cure of a perfect wave, has been eroded by years of bad luck, addiction and hubris. But just as things are looking like they can't get worse, a stranger named John arrives - and the Yost's banal existence is lifted into something profound, miraculous and, possibly, universal.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Put John Back on the 'waves, December 14, 2007

By	Allison Hsnsen "Allison Hansen" (McKinney, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Only the damned can be saved...and that's exactly what happens when John appears one morning, straight out of the blue (or Cincinnati as he'd have it) to tell Mitch Yost (patriarch of a multigenerational family of competitive surfers) to "Get back in the Game."
Funny stuff happens around John. People go up in the air. Things, usually in satisfyingly impressive denominations, materialize right out of his pockets.
The dead come back to life
The living begin to come back to life by both reaching out, and receiving kindnesses from one and other.
As one bemused individual, drawn into the strange and mysterious goings on around the Yost's observes: "There's a lot of quick healers in this zip code."
Love, Healing, Redemption, Spirituality and Slight-of-Hand... Sometimes hilariously, sometimes compassionately, John is the catalyst (think Starman crossed with Harpo Marx) who helps it all happen. I'd give ANYTHING to see the story continue with new episodes! Work with us at [...]

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful stuff - but not for everyone, March 5, 2008

By	P. Brady (Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The excellent writing is often lost beneath the torrents of expletives -- but -- if you can get past that, JFC is totally engrossing. Miracles, mysterious figures, mysticism, surfing! The series was cut short to 10 episodes (from 13), so the series finale is a bit hurried. But the opening sequence (and Bob Dylan music) for that last episode is truly moving, given all that happened on the show's run.

So, giving JFC one star is right enough for those who don't get it, but those that do get it, 5 are not enough.

We won't see more of this show, and maybe we don't need to. It was great for what it was. If you're undecided, rent it. It's worth it.

KBrady

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JFC resides in the pantheon of brilliant television...too bad it was cancelled, December 22, 2007

By	B. Boring - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's unfortunate that the term "groundbreaking" when it comes to television series seems to equate only to pushing the boundaries of sex and violence. "John From Cincinnati" broke new ground in narrative style and tackling the difficult topic of our collective subjective experiences that looked from the outside to be a simplistic family drama about surfing. It is definitely much more than that.

"John From Cincinnati" plays more like a fable than a realistic drama whose characters are simultaneously over-the-top caricatures and profoundly human. They encompass our irrational fears, damaging anger, tendency to cling to the past, and our desire to escape from it and change. These characters ARE us, and we look at them both in their specific niche and set against the tableau of the history of our species' existence ("big and huge" as John describes).

At the center of this is John who is less of an actual character and more of a personification of that which connects us and our own naiveté. He is a narrative device analogous to a Greek chorus. He serves as a reflection of a character's innermost thoughts and desires and strives to connect them to each other. He even literally does this as he imitates them. He stands apart from the rest of the cast to comment on them in his own bizarre way.

The writing is rich in its language and subtle humor. We aren't treated to immediate gratification either (and even the finale creates more mystery than it solves which is unfortunate in this case). Certainly airing immediately after the finale of "The Sopranos" when no one was watching handicapped such a series where continuity is significant. It takes several episodes to hit its full stride, but it does reward the dedicated viewer, gradually shedding light on previous events.

Milch's work on the early seasons of "NYPD Blue" and on "Deadwood" especially is brilliant, and "John From Cincinnati" is no exception in its own, very unique way. This is truly experimental, groundbreaking, underrated television for those willing to put forth the effort to read between the lines and immerse themselves in the lives of these disparate characters.